The next morning came slowly, as if the night had dragged on too long. But when I finally woke, it was to the sound of my mother weeping at my bedside at the break of dawn.

"What were you thinking, Eve? What is this that you have done?"

I looked up at her, unable to explain what my real intentions were. "I want this. I've always liked the cold, and I've never gotten the chance to visit my grandparents. Besides, I really don't want to be with the prince. It seems like a lot of work," I said in a cheerful manner, trying to ease her nerves.

"You can't possibly want this… you are a child! If we go and beg the emperor, he will retract it. Harold—the Emperor—is not a monster," she said, still sobbing. "He wouldn't do this to us… to you… Let's go apologize right now, Eve. There is still time."

Just as we were speaking, the head maid came walking in with a letter addressed to my father and mother. It was a royal decree that stipulated the details of my punishment.

The head maid placed the letter on the nightstand and stepped back quickly, as if the parchment might burn her. She would not meet my eyes.

"No, why would he do this?" my mother shrieked. "This has to be a sick joke. Is this what he wanted… to take us down a peg?" she said, crumpling the letter in her hand.

"Eve, do you even know what life in the north is like? Do you think you will be happy?" She sounded exhausted and perhaps even desperate. "I can hide you. We can send you to Verdina or even to Coria, but do not go to Ismere. That's not a place for a child."

"But you grew up there, didn't you?" I asked.

"And how do you think that turned out? The climate was horrific. I was constantly sick, and the war with Tar would reignite so often I barely saw my father. Many lives were lost… constantly. If my parents hadn't sent me to live here in the south, I would have died long before. My parents sent me here to escape the north."

"I understand your concerns, but..." Before I could finish my sentence, she cut me off.

"Why do you think I have no siblings? Life in the north was so gruesome, my parents refused to bear another child in fear that it would be a son who would be obligated to rule that wasteland."

"It's okay. I'll be fine," I said in a calm tone. I had anticipated all of this before I set my plan in motion. I knew how bad Ismere was. I knew how bad it would become. But hearing my mother say "I can hide you" made something in my chest ache anyway.

"You won't be fine. That's what you aren't understanding. I'll go beg him myself if I must," she said.

"That won't work. A decree has been issued," I said, facing her and taking her hand. "Look on the bright side. You'll get to visit me in the north and see your parents more often, and I'll tell you how they are doing. You'll like that, won't you?" I asked.

She looked at me, almost mortified, pulling her hand away from mine. "How can you be so calm at a time like this? Did you hate living here so much that you'd rather leave? Tell me. Please, Eve, I can't stand to see you leave. Can't you at least understand how I feel as your mother?"

"I'll go find your father. I am not letting this go!" she said, almost determined. But I could already tell from her tone that she knew better than I did that nothing could be done for my sake.

It was about 8:30 in the morning when my luggage was finally taken from my room. As I walked down the stairs, I could see my father and brothers talking. My father had just read through the decree, his face grim and sullen. He neither looked at me nor acknowledged my presence as I descended the stairs. He merely walked out the main door and left. My brother Raymond, on the other hand, stood firmly waiting for me to descend.

"Evelyn, you have ruined us all. This stupid act you put on last night has cost us more than just a frivolous marriage engagement. Our honour and the respect we have garnered has gone out the window with this stunt… why? Because 'you didn't feel like it,'" he said, rage spilling from his mouth. "You are a high-born noble. Engagement is duty. It's not about your feelings. Father told you over and over and over again that you were to ask for the prince. You were to pretend to be smitten with him. That is what the emperor wanted. That is what father wanted. That was the plan—to make a sappy first love story out of the two of you that would have cleared the tension between the throne and our house. Each time he asked, you said you understood. So why go ahead and humiliate us like this?"

"She's just ten years old, Ray," Louis said, grabbing Raymond by the shoulder. "How was she to understand all that?"

"Aren't you angry, Lou? This could cost you your place as an aide to the prince. How will the royal family accept the sibling of a person who has insulted the crown and the very structure of high society?"

"Of course I am angry," Louis said, tears flowing down his face. "How could she act so recklessly and so selfishly? However, I don't see the need to leave things like this. She is only ten years old, and she's leaving. When was the last time we talked it out with our sister? Last night, I realized we barely knew her. Why leave things like this? Have we even tried hearing her out? Eve, why'd you do it, huh?" Louis said, turning to me.

"I want to be free, Lou," I said almost silently.

"Free from what exactly?" Raymond asked indifferently. "I think you need a serious reality check, Evelyn. This isn't a game. While you—a pampered noble child who has never known duty or hardship—are here talking about 'freedom,' Father is headed to the palace to beg for your pardon. You know very well that going against a royal decree is akin to treason."

"If I leave before he arrives at the palace, he will be fine. Send a messenger or a hawk to tell him I have already left. This should deter him. He won't commit treason," I said almost coldly. But deep within, I felt sick to my stomach.

I walked past him without a word. The front door was open. The morning air was cold and clean, nothing like the perfumed heat of the banquet hall. A carriage waited in the courtyard—plain, dark wood, no family crest. Exactly as I had requested. Mildred, my mother's personal maid who also served as my governess, stood by the door waiting for me. She was the same maid who had come with my mother from Ismere when my mother was wed, and now, in a full circle moment, she would escort me back to Ismere.

"Are you ready, my lady?" she asked in her ever-so-kind tone.

"Yes," I said, looking up at her.

"Eve!" Louis called after me. "At least write to us."

I stopped. I didn't turn around.

"I will," I said. And I meant it.

Then I climbed into the carriage with Mildred's help—since I was too tiny to get over the first step on my own—and the door closed behind me. I did not look back at the house where I had spent three years learning to be Evelyn Vaelor.

The road to Ismere stretched out before me, cold and unknown.